Jump to content
SaltCritters.com

Do you currently maintain a quarantine tank?


Christopher Marks

Do you currently maintain a quarantine tank?  

194 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you currently maintain a quarantine tank?

    • Yes
      28
    • No
      128
    • I set one up only when needed
      39


Recommended Posts

Christopher Marks

Do you currently maintain a quarantine tank? How often and how long do you quarantine your new additions, if at all? Have you had success with your quarantine procedures?

 

Vote in our poll and discuss your experiences here.

Link to comment

I do not have one and do not have any plans to set one up in the near future. There have been occasions however when I would have liked one. Had I the extra space/time/money I would have one set up for sure.

Link to comment

I voted yes but I dunno if it's really true.

 

I use my frag tank to qt all new fish arrivals less wrasses. I don't quarantine the wrasses since the only diseases they are likely to have is internal parasites and that's only going to kill them. I once quarantined a wrasse for 6 weeks put it in the display it went into the rock and I never saw it again. That was the end of that.

 

I don't medicate my fish but if any ever got sick I would. Stuff like ick is not worth medicating since a healthy fish should be able to recover no problem.

 

The primary reasons I do this is to get the fish eating and make sure it's healthy.

 

I have the ability to qt corals but I never do. Oh sometimes they go in for a couple of days while I decide where I want them, but I never leave them in for 4-6 weeks to make sure they have no parasites diseases or other pests.

Link to comment

I freshwater dip and quarantine new fish for a week to make sure they are eating, active and have no signs of external parasites or wounds. I just take LR from my sump and ten gallons from my tank to start up a temporary quarantine tank. Barebottom with a HOB, koralia, and heater.

 

Since discovering a Zoa eating Nudibranches in my main tank, I'm quarantineing all my zoa colonies for 4 weeks, and dipping them in CoralRX every week. Hopefully this is long enough for the ones in the main tank to die off. From now on I'm dipping every new coral in CoralRX and Lugol's Iodine before it goes in the tank, but I don't plan to quarantine new corals yet.

Link to comment
If I need to. I saved a six line wrasse that way once. It was a stupid decision.

:lol:

God how you hate that fish...

 

Only when needed.

 

Space is at a premium.

Link to comment

I do not have one setup. I had a frag tank just setup when my tank crashed. It was a wonderful thing to have! However, I do not have one now. I figure I could just toss an extra 10 gallon together in an emergency.

Link to comment

I do have one now. I set it up after ich took out half my tank. QT still was not set up in time to save 90% of the rest. But the one currently in there is looking 100% better.

 

I do plan on putting my replacement fish through the QT tank, so it will stay set up long enough for me to do that. Not a set in stone QT time line, but I will probably shoot for about a week in QT with a low dose of Cupramine and maybe at a lower salinity than normal.

 

After I am done with all that, the QT tank will come down and be stored for the next time I need it. Since the equipment is probably dosed with meds, the tank will pretty much stay "set up".....but with no water and it will be hiding in a closet.

Link to comment
  • 4 months later...
Playapixie

Learned the hard way with my very first fish. I needlessly introduced Ich into my system, and had to practically tear down the whole thing to catch the infected ocellaris clown. I don't ever want to do that again. And now my tank will need to be fishless for 6-8 weeks to eradicate the Ich. Would have been far better to just quarantine in the first place, and I will always do so in the future!

Link to comment
Urchinhead

Maintain? No. Use? Absolutely! They don't need to be "maintained".

 

Don't put live rock et al in them. Just set it up then use active carbon and water changes to keep things at acceptable levels and pieces of PVC for fish to hide in.

 

All this crap about having to cycle/maintain a QT tank is just down right silly.

 

As to duration... Depends on the fish/coral. Standard is 10 days. Longer for some fish, for example when one is needing to be weened off of live food onto pellets. Coral standard is 10 days as well.

Link to comment

I don't actively maintain one, but I have one currently running my quarantine bucket because I picked up some new corals two weeks ago. I've been doing a 3-4 week quarantine, and I was able to catch Aiptasia on a frag disk and nip it in the bud before it got introduced into my tank.

 

When I get my one fish it's going straight into my tank 'cause there's no other fish to infect and my setup isn't adequate for anything except corals.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
Helter Skilter

I lost over 100 colonies of coral after getting hit by Monti Nudis and AEFW. Vowing that I would NEVER allow this to happen again, I now keep a 58g LPS tank that I use to QT Acro & Montis in.

 

All incoming Acro and Montis get dipped before entering the QT. If I see any sign of AEFW or Monti Nudis, the corals get dipped once a week for 4 weeks. They then get dipped again a month later and inspected for Red Bug. If that dip comes up clean, then they can go into my display tank. Either way, I utilize a two month minimum QT on SPS.

 

I do not QT fish.

Link to comment

I don't maintain one, but I do set one up before I get a new fish. I don't get new fish that often so I haven't set one up in a while. I usually quarantine for 3-4 weeks, I think picking out a healthy fish to start out with is also important

 

I used to quarantine corals, but now I just dip and thoroughly inspect them beforehand

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I really couldnt imagine not having one these days! Im not trying to be snooty but those of you that think not QTing certain fish/corals/macros etc. because they arent carriers or suceptable to one thing or another, are nuts. EVERYTHING can and will become a carrier of pests. In the most literal way most of the time, no matter if its a zoa bringing AEFW or Montipora bringing valonia into your tank..If its wet, it ought to be segregated for close inspection/treatment. Hell ive got bubble algae from sand,planaria from ricordea, fulgida worms from "clean, cooked, pest free" live rock, red bugs from lfs shipment that never hit their tanks, zoa eating nudis from lfs that even continued to sell them once they knew they had em, monty eating nudis from a local fragger, parasites on fish inside their gills(found posthumously) that were not viewable to the eye and coutless different micro and macro algaes that were not present at time of purchase from frag plugs, rock, coral and even used equipment.

 

The only thing ive not bean plagued by is AEFW thank God, but im CERTAIN that ill see it in QT eventually. Likely sooner than later at the rate of all those that dont QT or QT for insufficient periods of time...1 month is my minimum QT and thats only if there is zero change in the coral/fish to the naked eye. If something looks even remotely out of place and I cant find the cause then its a month longer and so on.

 

Bottom line is that Ive got too much money invested in my tank to risk it without an insurance plan(QT).

 

This is a great guide to QT: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-10/sp/feature/index.php

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

I have a 10G with a HOB and airstone that is running constantly. I've had mixed success with it. Currently I've got a pair of clownfish in there for 2 weeks that are eating like champs and no signs of parasites. I usually QT for at the minimum 30 days unless it's a dragonette, they only get a week. I dip corals but do not QT them.

Link to comment
  • 6 months later...
Chuza8799

I had a fish only tank a few years back and an infected fish decimated the tank.

 

I'm about to stock my new reef tank and i already set up my QT. I plan to qt for 2-3 weeks.

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...